


Birthday Wishes

by Colonel_Edd



Series: Home is where the Heart is [5]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Birthday, Birthday Presents, Birthday Wishes, Fluff, Happy Ending, Ianto Jones Birthday, M/M, Sort Of, flash backs, only a little though, sweet jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 01:35:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20301277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colonel_Edd/pseuds/Colonel_Edd
Summary: A look back in time over Ianto’s many birthdays, he truly has come a long way over the years. He’s had a lot of different birthdays and not all of them happy occasions, here are just a few.





	Birthday Wishes

Today was a special day for today was Ianto’s 16th birthday, it was the 19th of August 1936 and everything for once was looking up.

All in all today had been a good day, his parents had gifted him some new clothes, his brother hadn’t stolen from his plate at breakfast and Lisa had kept him company all afternoon as they walked down by the canal together, talking about everything and nothing like good friends do, “So?” Her eyes sparkled as she teased him, “What’s your birthday wish then?”

Ianto snorted as he threw a small stone into the canal, watching as it made a small splash, the ripples dancing over the surface of the water as he answered his friend, “I can’t tell you that, it won’t come true otherwise”

“Come on,” she wheeled, “It’s me Ianto”

“Not happening” he shook his head, miming his buttoned lips as he handed her a stone to throw as well. He wasn’t about to tell her what he wished, it was stupid anyway. He knew it could never come to pass.

Ianto wasn’t stupid enough to believe that he would get his happy ever after but it was nice to dream about what could never be. It was impossible but deep down he wished that he’d meet a nice man, that they’d fall in love and move heaven and earth for each other. He wished that one day he might not be so lonely as Lisa could only provide him with a certain type of comfort, and a limited amount at that.

Still, he told himself, he knew it was stupid but as he watched Lisa throw her stone, causing another bout of ripples in the water, he couldn’t help but wonder what his future held.

-

14 years later Jack grinned to himself as he watched Ianto snuffle adorably next to him in bed, still mostly asleep as Jack ran a soothing hand up and down his back. Last night had been amazing, even by their standards and he had even better plans for today. Lisa and Emily were in on it of course and would help make everything perfect because today was Ianto’s birthday.

It was practically tradition at this point to spent his lovers birthday showering him with inappropriate compliments that made him blush and to try and squeeze as much pampering in as he could before Ianto started growling at him. From there it was a quick trip upstairs before the real fun could begin. Ianto was quite fond of birthday blowjobs after all and Jack certainly wasn’t going to disappoint.

“J’cks’n?” Ianto’s voice was muffled by his pillow as he blinked several times, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he yawned like a kitten, “What time is it?”

“Morning” Jack grinned as Ianto huffed, dropping his head back down onto his pillow, “And you know what that means birthday boy” he grinned, pressing kisses to any stretch of skin he could reach, “Present time!”

Resigned to his fate, Ianto sat up and checked his watch, glad to see Jack hadn’t let him sleep in too late after all, “I told you not to get me anything” he complained but it sounded weak even to his own ears, “I don’t need anything for my birthday” how did he get so lucky?

“Tada!” Jack ignored him and pulled the present he had spent weeks searching for, handing it over with a flourish, “Well,” he prodded, “Open it!”

Shaking his head fondly, Ianto peeled back the paper gently and simply stared at his present for a few seconds before a blinding smile tugged at his lips, “Jack,” he didn’t know what to say, “where did you get this?” In his hands sat a copy of his favourite book, it was a first edition and sighed by the author himself. It must have cost a small fortune and been an absolute pain to track down, “It’s wonderful”

“So you like it?” Jack preened, very proud of himself as Ianto leant over to show him just how much he liked it.

Yup, today was going to be a very good day indeed.

-

It had come as a great shock to Lisa when she lost her husband, Ianto had been her best friend, he was like a brother to her and he had been gone a long time now. Ten years had past since he disappeared and it still hurt as much as the day she was told he’d been declared dead. It just wasn’t right, “Hey,” she came to a gradual stop and fiddled with the small boutique of flowers she had brought, just like every year, and placed them on the floor, “Happy birthday. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” She reached out and touched the plain stone she knew Ianto would have hated.

Emily was right there with her, offering comfort and a shoulder to cry on as she held her hand, “Are you alright?”

Lisa sniffed and tried to pull herself together, ultimately failing as she traced her fingers over the engraved name of her husband, “No, I’m not” she wiped her eyes valiantly as tears welled up and clouded her vision. Ianto wouldn’t have wanted this, he would’ve wanted her to move on, to put him in the past and look forward to the future but she simply couldn’t, “I miss him Em, after all these years I still turn around and expect him to be there. I feel like I’m going mad with grief”

Ianto should have been here, he should be going grey with her, laughing with her over their wrinkles and complaining about the youth of today. He shouldn’t be gone, she still almost believed he couldn’t be gone. Maybe that was down to the small spark of hope she still held deep down in her heart that told her he could still be out there somewhere, alive and kicking and complaining about the weather.

They’d never found the plane that had gone down, they’d never retrieved his body and she knew Jackson had scoured the ocean for him, “You’re not going mad” Emily soothed her lover as she held her close, the cemetery empty and offering them a semblance of privacy, it’s not as if the dead could turn them in, “Love, of course you still miss him. I do too, and Jack”

Lisa nodded and glanced back at her husbands empty grave, “He’s sorry he couldn’t visit,” she sniffed, “You know how he is, he was going to this year, honest but he couldn’t bring himself to” maybe next year, she knew it would do him the world of good, he’d never really accepted the fact Ianto was gone. He’d attended the funeral but hadn’t visited the grave since, “He misses you so much” she whispered, “We all do. I hope-” she cleared her throat as her voice cracked, “I hope wherever you are, you’re at peace. We love you so much”

Emily watched with a heavy heart as her lover pressed a kiss to her fingers and touched the gravestone with twin tear tracks running down her cheeks, “Come on love, let’s get back inside before you catch a chill”

-

There was a tin Jack kept locked in his bottom desk draw, this tin held some of his most prize possessions. Pictures of people he had lost during his seemingly never ending life, some faded with time, some fairly new but if one were to look at the selection of photographs they would see an almost alarming amount of one man in particular, he was tall, dark haired with brilliant blue eyes that the black and white pictures didn’t do justice. This was a man Jack had loved and lost a long time ago that still resided deep within his heart.

He had never really gotten over Ianto Jones, the man had wormed his way so far under Jack’s skin that the Captain knew he’d never be able to shake his memory completely. Not that he wanted to, after all it was better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all. That’s the sort of thing Ianto would have said after all.

From time to time, Jack liked to take the stack of photo’s out and reminisce about the not so good old days, where they had to hide their love, terrified of the repercussions, how he wished Ianto had been born in a better time, he wished they hadn’t had to hide. He had begged with the stars, wished with all his might, demanded at the feet of the gods and sobbed by his grave but nothing had brought his lover back to him.

Jack reckoned he would give just about anything to have Ianto with him in a time like this, a time where he could proudly declare his love and stand proudly at his side but he knew dreaming of such a thing was only going to bring down his mood. There was no way, the universe simply didn’t give him chances like that and Jack had made his peace with it, mostly. 

He was startled out of his nostalgia induced trip down memory lane by the hub klaxons sounding, he rushed down to Toshiko’s station to assess the situation and was informed there had been a major Rift spike over a private airfield on the outskirts of Cardiff. An unidentified bi-plane suddenly appearing in a flash of light.

It could have been anything, it could have been an invasion, a lost ship searching for a place to land. It could even be a fault in the system registering a false alarm but it wasn’t. Instead it was something that made Jack freeze on the spot when he took Gwen and Owen to investigate. It was a de Havilland Dragon Rapide, a plane he had scoured the face of the earth for three times over. This was the plane, he would recognise it anywhere.

He held his breath, hoping beyond hope, praying to any and all the deities he could think of, to just give him this, just this once. Please.

It looks like someone answered his prayers, a tall, dark haired man with brilliant blue eyes walked out of the plane and looked right at him, “Ianto!”

He charged forwards desperately as if the hounds of hell were snapping at his heels, Not stopping until he had the man in his arms once again, breathing in his familiar scent as he allowed himself to breath once more.

Maybe the universe did grant a few of his wishes after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Looking forward to reading any comments, good or bad. Let me know what you think :)


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